Candidates: '85

Candidates again. Same old crowd I suppose - have you noticed
that the only difference between this year's tournament and last year's
is that everybody looks a year older (modulo a few beards on or off).
Turn up at Francis Roads' on Friday night (THANK YOU Francis and Judith
for your hospitality) to find Richard Granville sharing the music room.
Who's entered then eh? Will Andrew Daly be there? Frank May? Quentin
Mills? The latest up-and-coming shodan (Who he - Ed). John Who? Jon
Diamond? Didn't he used to be British champion in the days of Goddard
and Prescott (who they - Ed).

Fit brain In fit body - try running up the stairs of Covent
Garden tube station if you want to get the right frame of mind for a
tournament. At least it wasn't like last year, arriving to find they'd
actually started the clocks at ten.

Got Tim Hazelden in Round 1, which was hard going until a handful of
weak groups appeared (his, that is). He didn't seem to know the L-group
is dead, as he made one. I know, so I played another move just to make
sure!

When there was time to look around I could see a lot of stronger
players who weren't there - well you know what I mean. Only two 3
dans and no-one stronger than that except for Diamond. He got Bob
Thompson in the first round, which was really a battle of the ancients.
Usual butty lunch - Covent Garden is good for that, if a bit
pricey. Then lost to Martin Lerner, incidentally producing the most
anomalous result of the tournament. In the sense of being furthest from
the diagonal of the cross-table (on the wrong side).

Player

Rk

Wins

SOS

Posn

Jon Diamond

6d

x

1

1

1

1

1

1

6

19

1st

Richard Granville

3d

0

x

1

1

1

1

1

5

23

2nd

John Smith

2d

0

x

0

1

1

1

1

4

23

3rd

Brian Chandler

2d

-

0

x

1

1

1

0

1

4

22

4th=

Alistair Thompson

1d

-

0

1

0

x

1

1

1

4

22

4th=

Tim Hazelden

2d

0

0

x

1

1

1

1

4

19

6th

Neil Symes

1d

-

0

0

x

1

1

1

1

4

18

7th

Bill Brakes

1d

-

x

0

1

0

1

1

1

4

17

8th

John Hobson

1d

-

0

0

x

1

1

1

1

4

16

9th

Sam Perlo-Freeman

1k

0

0

1

0

x

1

1

3

23

10th

Martin Lerner

1d

-

0

1

0

0

x

1

1

3

22

11th

Chris Stevenson

2d

-

0

0

0

1

x

1

1

3

21

12th

Brian Ellis

1k

-

0

0

0

x

1

1

1

3

15

13th

James Bond

1k

-

0

x

1

0

0

1

1

3

14

14th=

Alan Thornton

1k

-

0

0

0

x

1

1

1

3

14

14th=

Walter Gregory

2d

-

0

0

0

x

1

1

1

3

13

16th

Francis Roads

3d

0

0

0

0

1

x

1

2

22

17th

Chris Kirkham

1k

-

0

0

0

1

0

x

1

2

19

18th

Mark Cumper

1d

-

0

0

0

0

x

1

1

2

18

19th

Tony Warburton

1k

-

0

0

0

0

x

1

1

2

14

20th

Mo Amin

1d

-

0

0

0

0

x

1

1

2

11

21st

Bob Thompson

1d

0

0

0

0

0

x

1

1

18

22nd

Andy Benyon

2k

-

0

0

0

0

0

x

1

1

17

23rd

Sue Paterson

2k

-

0

0

0

0

0

0

x

0

12

24th

A few of the missing players and Frank May's dog were to be seen
later on, mostly with good explanations for their absence. (Someone
forget to send out invitations to the 2-dans and above - Ed!). It
also became clear that Richard Granville was only playing 'for
practice', since he'll be in Japan at the time of the Challengers.

What with Terry Stacey threatening to become a father at an
inconvenient juncture, there were good chances for of a place for 2-dans
or even a keen shodan or so. There hasn't been a shodan in the
Challengers league since the very first one in 1975, so rather sadly
really, standards do seem to be slipping.

Round 3, and I'm drawn against Francis Roads. Do I
respect my host and lose? Well, I almost did. Have not forgotten, though
Francis claims he has, Round 6 of the 1984 New Year tournament, when he
attacked me with the no-space high pincer in Dia 1, muttering a quote
from the book about how easily White can go wrong.

Formulated master plan which almost materialised. See Dia 2: the key
move in the plan is 4, but first I have to make the ladder work (see
Ishida's Dictionary of Joseki Vol. 1 p. 226). Amazingly, by 16 it does,
so of course 17 presses and the plan is blown.

I played the knee-jerk reply at 18, and the more or less joseki sequence
to 23 followed. With the benefit of hindsight, however, and a word or two
from A. Strong-Player, I see what a loony move 18 is. The White stones at
4 and 16 mean the area is under my influence, and I should just push through
and cut. After the 'windmill' joseki of Dia 3, or something similar,
I've got a fair fight on my hands. In the actual game Francis pulled
comfortably ahead, and it was only to be regretted (by him) that he
neglected to ensure two eyes for one of his large groups later on. Oh,
I almost forgot the master plan. If he had for example passed on move
17, the sequence to 78 in Dia 4 just might have happened (one lives
in hope).

Round 4 produced an amusing sequence which actually
happened in the game between James Bond and Bill Brakes. Fortunately the
critical moves - 1 to 78* in Diagram. 5
- have been reconstructed for posterity by A.S.MacP. Black 17# is
superfluous, there is no need to jump out as he is already alive. But
this starts a marathon crawl in which he just fails to wriggle out.
Amazingly, the end result is approximately even, since although black
has captured the white group on the right, white has massive thickness
in compensation and went on to win. * [ BGJ had 1-79. ] # [ BGJ had Black 18. ]

Bank Holiday Monday. Good weather again, unfortunately, since it
brings out the most tuneless aspirants to street entertainment. Neil
Symes in Round 5 - a historical player like myself, but who doesn't
seem to play quite the moves he used to.

Once again (we met at the excellent British Congress this year) he
seemed to have more points of territory uncomfortably close to the end
of the game. Tried to win before the dame points were filled, and
narrowly succeeded. Need a lot of luck or some improvement If I am going
to keep beating Neil.

Last round, and Richard Granville for the fifth successive
tournament - and my fifth successive loss. Slight upset this round
as Alistair Thompson, who must be the emerging shodan mentioned earlier,
beat John Smith and earned himself a place in the Challengers.

Well, a good tournament. Thanks to Andrew Grant for his
organisation, and hope to see you all (and more) again next year. A
final note from the BGA official analyst (that's me actually). What a
pity more people don't record their games. If you don't write them down
you (and me) can't learn from your mistakes.

For the benefit of DFKs, who might feel tempted to emulate this
swish-buckling sequence (Dia 5), a few words of comment:

As Brian notes, 17 is unusual, but may be playable because Black
. After
18-24 Blacks top group should be considered alive and out
into the open.

[ Why doesn't black play 21' as a cut to the right of 20?
=== sgb ]

White 26 is a waste of a ko threat, but provokes an immediate
blunder (black should just capture this stone) since 27 allows white to
push and cut.

Blacks position now collapses. White 40 is a slight mistake -
he should throw in at 55 and then play 41 when the truth is plain to
see.

Black keeps thrashing around losing ko threats and liberties until
he realises a counter-attack is his only chance. After Black 57 White
could calmly play 65 or thereabouts, making his group safe (at least
safe enough to easily win any semeai) and claiming his contract. He has
made such massive gains on the other side of the board he must win.

White 62 is the final error, although Blacks continuation to 77 would be
overlooked by many strong players, including perhaps Black? White should
block from the other side to give his group an eye. Black would then have
to fill liberties from the top side - which he cannot do, since he
hasnt any!

One final point. To go back to the beginning, White
2* is risky because of Blacks marked stone.
He should simply slide out to 64. * [ BGJ had White 3. ]

This article is from the
British Go Journal
Issue 65,
which is one of a series of back issues now available on the web.